Chelsea achieved their goal of qualifying for next year’s Champions League by beating Nottingham Forest on the final day of the Premier League season.
After a gruelling 38-game campaign in the Premier League, Chelsea secured fourth position in the division table.
The Blues will now enter next season’s Champions League tournament after two years away from Europe’s elite club competition.
Pat Nevin’s pre-season prediction on Chelsea finishing fourth turned out to be spot on. Ultimately, it’s a great achievement for Enzo Maresca during his debut season at Stamford Bridge as the club’s head coach.
We’ve taken a look at the four biggest reasons why Chelsea ended up in fourth spot…
Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Cole Palmer’s form in the first half of the season
Even though Cole Palmer has had a challenging second half of the campaign, nobody should forget just how sensational his form was in the first few months.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder, who has operated in a central No 10 position under Maresca, was heads and shoulders above the rest of the Chelsea squad in the first half of the season.
Appearances Goals Assists
19 12 6
Cole Palmer in the opening 19 Premier League matches of the 2024/25 season
Appearances Goals Assists
18 3 3
Cole Palmer in the final 19 Premier League matches of the 2024/25 season
Back in November, Shay Given praised Cole Palmer by selecting him as the Premier League’s best player of the season at the time. In fairness, he was going toe-to-toe with Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah with so many world-class performances in the first few months of the season.
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People may be focusing on Palmer’s dip in form because it’s more recent, but we don’t think Chelsea would have qualified for the Champions League without their playmaker’s blistering form early on.
Third best home record in the division
It was a big win away against Forest that got Chelsea over the line for Champions League football on the final day of the season, but it’s the team’s home form that has provided the platform for the league success.
The Blues’ form at Stamford Bridge has ultimately played a significant role in ending up fourth.
Matches Wins Draws Losses Goals scored Goals against Points
Liverpool 14 4 1 42 16 46
Manchester City 13 3 3 43 23 42
Chelsea 12 5 2 35 18 41
Aston Villa 11 7 1 34 20 40
The best home records in the Premier League across the 2024/25 season
Back in April, Enzo Maresca criticised the home atmosphere when Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw against Ipswich Town in the league fixture. However, we’ve noticed a significant change in the final few home matches of the season with a much more positive feeling around the ground.
Incidentally, Chelsea’s only two league defeats at home this season came against Manchester City and Fulham.
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez blossoming in midfield
The joint success of Chelsea midfielders Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in the centre of the park has been a driving force in landing Champions League qualification.
Caicedo has received huge credit for a remarkable individual campaign, rightly so. In a similar way, Fernandez has been so effective as his central midfield partner.
It’s quite evident to supporters that both Caicedo and Fernandez have significantly raised their individual levels in the 2024/25 campaign, which we think has been fundamental to the positive results. Everybody is now starting to see why they each cost over £100m to bring to West London in 2023.
Player Appearances (Starts) Goals Assists Successful passes Chances created Tackles won Duels won Average match rating
Moises Caicedo 38 (38) 1 2 1,941 30 73 236 7.42
Enzo Fernandez 36 (32) 6 7 1,489 79 33 159 7.30
Moises Caicedo vs Enzo Fernandez in the Premier League across the 2024/25 season via FOTMOB
Chelsea fully back their midfield of Caicedo, Fernandez and Palmer as one of Europe’s very best combinations.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Vital winning streak to end the season
Perhaps the biggest reason why Chelsea got over the line to qualify for the Champions League is they kept their composure and showed real maturity during the business end of the season.
Even though the Blues finished with a tough run of fixtures, they won five of their last six Premier League games to fire themselves into fourth.
Paul Merson’s message to Chelsea is to go out and sign some experience to supplement the young group of players. While we agree that the Blues need an injection of some older faces, the current squad have shown a maturity beyond their years in the last month to hold their nerve under immense pressure.